Once Upon a December
by yuugi arry
Summary: Songfic to "Once Upon a December" by Anastasia. Not short, but not too long, I hope. Beta-read by The Guy Below Me Sucks. Rated T for character deaths and includes yaoi.
1. The Promise

"I promise I'll always protect you Felicano. Now and forever. No matter what it is, I will be there for you. If I can." Ludwig murmured into the ear of his crying Italian friend as he gently, but firmly, held him close to his chest.  
>He had just woken up from a nightmare screaming and crying for help. Ludwig had never been so relieved to have his friend sneak into his bed.<br>Feliciano clung to him as though he'd disappear if he let go of the German. He'd never been terrified to this extent in his life. Not even when his best friend, who doubled as Ludwig's twin brother, was beat to death before his eyes when they were little. He met Ludwig at the funeral and learned the other had been living with his father. He moved in with his mom and older brother the next day.  
>"Pr-promise?"He gasped between tears.<br>"Yes. Just like H.R. did." Ludwig twisted until they were comfortable and pulled the blankets over them. Feliciano nuzzled into his chest and drifted off to sleep.  
>Ludwig smiled softly at his dearest friend. He had no clue what the boy's dream was. He had no clue that it would become reality. He had no clue that his time with Feliciano would be at a close in twenty-eight hours time. He soon fell into an uneasy sleep about the Italian. A dream where pasta ate the boy and his older look alike brother.<p> 


	2. The Dream

Ivan Braginski stood on a hill, watching the placid Italian town sleep. It was ten o'clock at night and the crescent moon gave off just enough light to see without being seen.  
>He mounted the buckskin horse by his side and turned to his army. "Find the Vargas family and kill them. All of them. Let none live or pay the price. Kill anyone who gets in your way. And be wary of the twin brothers. Leave them alive and bring them to me. Gilbert," he addressed the albino German in front of his men, "I'm counting on you."<br>"A deal is a deal ja?" He stated."I help rid you of the Vargas family and you let my bruder live und give me da heirs to da family."  
>A nod from the Russian leader and he was off. He focused not on the screams and quickly growing house fires, but on the house he had told Ludwig to bring Feliciano and Lovino to. The small tree house he had helped the strange trio make, laughing as Feliciano pouted when Ludwig took a saw away from him and gave him a paint brush, or when Lovino took a hammer away from him and gave him paint; both trying to protect him from hurting himself.<br>He round a corner and quickly jumped off the saddle and climbed into the tree tops, onto a wood platform that was hidden from the ground by bushy boughs. Ludwig met him at the door.  
>"Bruder wie heist du?"<br>"Ich bin nict gut. Und der bruders?"  
>His reply came from a shoe hitting his head."Stop speaking German you stupid bastard!"<br>Lovino stood by his sleeping brother with a missing shoe. "Why did we have to meet at such a late hour?"  
>"Your family is in grave danger, Young Prince. You and your bruder need to escape now before it's too late."<br>Ludwig's eyes widened. "That's what this is about!"  
>Gilbert nodded.<br>"We can't go." Felicano said,rubbing his eyes. "We need to stay and fight for what is ours. Our people look up to us. We can't abandon them."  
>"Feli's right." Lovino stated. "I'll stay, and you guys bring Feliciano somewhere safe. When this is all over, bring him back. If I die before it's safe, then I leave everything to you guys as long as you promise to protect everyone and bring Felicano home when it's safe and return it to him."<br>"Ludwig will do all of that. I'm just bring you, or Prince Feliciano rather, across the borders into a safe village, Sire."  
>Lovino sighed and hugged his younger brother, promising they'd be united again before the end of the year. The ten year old boy nodded and kissed Lovino goodbye before he ran to help the town, only stopping to put his shoe on; the laces he never learned to tie whipping his legs until angry welts appeared.<br>Ludwig turned to his own brother. "I hope he's right."  
>Twenty minutes out of town Feliciano's horse bucked him into a tree and ran off, not caring that her rider dangled by his leg and his head hit every root and stone until Ludwig cut him free.<br>He was still unconscious when Ludwig delivered him to a nice farming family four hours from the time Ivan attacked the village. 


	3. At Home

Lovino's sword plunged into the head of a man as the thirteen year old boy tried to run past a gunman. His legs ached from so much running, and his lungs and sides burned. All he had to do was get the attacking army away from the trail his brother was on and the innocent civilians scattering around.  
>Gilbert was chasing him, as though to try and grab him, when he felt a tug at his left leg starting at his foot. He gasped as he tripped and hit his head on the hard ground.<br>The dizzying feeling was starting to fade and he could see the dust storm coming before he was trampled to death by a dozen horse feet.  
>Gilbert let a tear fall before he put on his uncaring charade. Later that night he and Ludwig buried the prince and prayed for the safety of the last of the Vargas family.<br>Meanwhile, the farmers had lay Feliciano in an unused bed and thought about what the mysterious German told them.  
>"His name is Austin Felivargas Beilschmidt. He is my adopted bruder from Germany but we are short on money und cannot take care of him." The blonde on the big black horse stated as he dismounted and held out the limp boy. "We moved when he was four so he speaks Italian perfectly and is often mistaken for one. Please take care of him. He may not remember things when he wakes up."<br>"We will," the man promised.  
>The boy was handed over. A small kiss was placed softly on his forehead and the blonde slipped a small, brown, leather drawstring bag into the boy's pocket. After that, he gave the man his saddlebags and left with a parting warning and promise.<br>"I'll be back for him someday. Treat him well."  
>Austin Felivargas Beilschmidt sat up and rubbed his head. "Vee~!What happened?"<br>"Austin are you alright?" He asked.  
>"Vee~ I don't remember any thing."<br>"That's going to be fixed. I'll help you." The man promised. "After lunch. Anything you want to eat?"  
>"Pasta!" the reply came instantly.<p> 


	4. Austin

Austin sighed as he looked down at the note in his hands. It was still as confusing as the time he read it four years ago. The faded letters burned into his memory.  
>'Felivargas, I promised to protect you and I plan on doing just that. I hope you remain safe in my time of absence. Please take care of your self until I return to you. On the day I call on you everything will be okay, I promise. Loving you more and more every second we're apart; L.B., keep me in your heart.'<br>He had no clue who L.B. could be, or why he felt so inclined to read it every chance he got. But it made him feel something that he couldn't; confused, safe, and loved among those.  
>He sighed as a rooster crowed in the yard. His adopted family was going to start coming in for his birthday any second now.<br>He slowly got dressed and looked down, a little depressed he couldn't remember any birthday past the day he woke up. Not counting a strange voice that never spoke clearly and was always muffled, a feeling of slight reconciliation when he saw someone with blonde hair or blue eyes. But the only people he remembered knowing every day were the black haired, brown eyed farmer father and the red haired, green eyed farmer mother. Though, he did feel a squeeze in his heart when he looked in the mirror.  
>"Fourteen huh?" His "father" asked.<br>"Yup."Austin didn't want to talk. He wanted to think. Just think, and think, and think, and think some more. And when he got bored, think some more.


	5. Store

Austin smiled as he walked down the lanes of the local super market. He had been sent there to pick up something for dinner that night and was rather happy about it. The only thing he didn't like about the market was the pictures of the royal family that had been murdered four years prior. There was something about it that twisted his heart into knots. And it wasn't just the uncanny resemblance between him and the youngest.  
>As he was walking past it, his eyes stuck on the two brothers. He took in the way they smiled, one with joy and the other with annoyance. The curl on opposite sides of their heads, big brown eyes, flawless skin, beautiful dark brown hair on the older.<br>He didn't see the man in front of him until it was too late. He collided with a white haired man and fell back onto the floor. Red eyes looked at him slightly amused.  
>"I'M SORRY!"Austin shouted, fear unmasked in his voice.<br>"Relax. The Awesome Gilbert never hurts an innocent cutie over something so trivial." The man seemed relieved that Austin was there. "Geez kid, you grew up so much. Look almost like I expected Lovino to look like at your age. Of course he had to prove me wrong there too. Never liked listening to me or me being right. Which, by the way, is not awesome." His voice had a thoughtful murmur and his eyes looked deep in thought. "But you grew up so beautiful. She would of been proud."  
>Austin gulped. This man was crazy as a cuttle fish in the desert.<br>"Bruder leave the kid alone." Another man walked over before freezing. Austin looked at him with wide eyes. He'd been looking for this man. Somehow he knew it. Something just clicked in his heart. This is who he was hoping to see when he saw all those other blonde men. "Mein Gott."  
>Austin ran away from the store without buying anything. He had to get home to think. Yes, thinking was good. Thinking was always good.<br>But all he could think about was the blonde man and German albino.  
>Thinking had betrayed him.<br>There was a knock on his bedroom door.  
>"Austin? You have company."<br>"Read the sign please."  
>His adopted father sighed and looked at the art work on the door handle. Pictures of blurry blondes, fire, and blue skies filled the page with the words 'Thinking, do NOT disturb or I'm not cooking' filled the middle. Of course.<br>"Austin you need to come out and see your guests. Or no pasta for a week."  
>The door hit the wall as the Italian rushed to protect his pasta rights. He froze in wide eyed shock as he reached the sitting room.<br>One word came out to greet his company.

"STALKERS!"


End file.
